Sam Toft is an artist and friend of Mr EH Mustard who roams the Brighton Hove border with his dear lady wife Violet and Doris, a grumpy, portly Jack Russell.
Sam has created an exclusive collection featuring her now infamous characters “The Mustard’s”. Using mixed media, pencil, oil pastels, coloured inks and her own idiomatic techniques, Sam depicts a seaside world of faded ice-cream colours where the breeze is always blowing and life is utterly delicious.
About The Artist
Sam Toft’s first ambition was to work in the post office. Instead of achieving her dream, she became a silver-service waitress, a civil servant, a fire extinguisher salesperson, a catering manageress, a student, and a death grants advisor. She was even unemployed for a time. She has lived in many places in England. Today, she lives in Brighton.
Toft graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Social Science from Kingston Polytechnic in South West London. Today, it is known as Kingston University. During that time, Toft had no idea what path to take or what career to pursue, but she was sure she would never become a poet. Due to her many previous different jobs and because she couldn’t seem to find her passion, she decided to make a drastic change in her life.
She went back to Liverpool and took a vocational course in General Art and Design at the City of Liverpool Community College. While she was there, she was inspired by a teacher named Hering. This Liverpool Community College teacher gave her the confidence to pursue a career in art. Since then, Toft has made hundreds of handmade cards ; a lot of illustration work, caricatures, and wedding invitations. She also paints, which is her favorite medium.
Toft has been working with mixed media such as colored inks and oil pastels. She also uses the fingers-and-thumbs technique. She is the author of the characters Ernest and Violet Mustard whom she uses in her paintings. Her illustrations, drawings, and paintings have been widely published and can be seen around the United Kingdom and in the United States.